This 470-page book describes the sexual abuse hysteria in Wenatchee, Washington,
that resulted in 45 people being arrested and dozens imprisoned for bizarre
sex crimes. Wenatchee occurred a decade after similar infamous cases of
the 1980s such as McMartin and Kern County in California, Jordan in Minnesota,
and Kelly Michaels in New Jersey. Many people felt that the days of sexual
abuse indictments on the basis of fantastic statements by children who were
repeatedly interviewed was over. But it happened again in Wenatchee, which
Lyon compares to the McCarthy era and sees as the greatest instance of social
hysteria in the 1990s.

Central to the story are the actions of Wenatchee Police Detective Robert
Perez and his foster daughter. Perez was an ideological dinosaur who garnered
the support of some local officials and the child protection agency. Perez
took no notes and did not tape any of his interviews. As the hysteria grew,
the police succeeded in obtaining confessions from poor, illiterate, and
mentally disabled suspects. Several of these were convicted in trials with
public defenders and no expert witnesses.

Other defendants with private attorneys were acquitted. Robert Robinson,
the pastor of the local Pentecostal church, spent 135 days in jail along
with his wife, Connie, before being acquitted of engaging in sexual orgies
with children in his church.

The book closes with the 300th anniversary of the Day of Repentance in Salem,
Massachusetts in response to the Salem witch trials. The Robertsons were
there along with other former defendants from the most notorious sexual
abuse cases  Scott and Brenda Kniffin, Ray and Peggy Ann Buckey, Kelly Michaels,
Cheryl and Violet Amirault, Bobby Fijnje  along with others from less publicized
cases. Several of the journalists and mental health professionals, who were
pioneers in their concern for false allegations of sexual abuse were also
there and participated in the events.